not reporting criminal charge that arose during PR process

[gourmand]

Hello,

I have recently learned about a curious case of an acquaintance. This person has applied for PR in summer 2021 through one of the skilled workers programme.

Then, in January 2022, they have been charged with two counts of assault (CCC section 226 b). The case received the first hearing in March.

At the same time, the PR processing was ongoing. They got official AoR in March, and then medical and/or biometric request in May. And, got the PR confirmation, then eCOPR, in June. And quite efficiently, the PR card also arrived in July.

However, the very peculiar thing is: they have never reported the criminal charges to the IRCC. I am not sure how the final step of PR process was executed now these days during and post-COVID. But to validate the CoPR or to confirm the PR status I believe an applicant should answer a set of questions concerning if there is any change(s) regarding their status, such as marital status, newborn child etc. Among these questions, whether or not they have been charged/convicted of any crime or offence in any country is an obvious, straightforward one. I remember I had to choose "no" and write my initials next to this question on my CoPR back on that day of my landing (before COVID).

I believe they have intentionally hidden this information from the IRCC. But would the IRCC discover it? In fact I was bewildered by the fact that the IRCC was not alerted of this discrepancy when they finalized this applicant's file. What I believe has always been that if one has outstanding charges, the PR application should be put on hold until the criminal case has reached a decision. And I believe that if this matters as a misrepresentation, the applicant should likely face the consequence (such as be given a procedural fairness letter to explain what they did not report it, and then maybe have their PR status revoked etc), no matter whether those charges that they failed to disclose to the IRCC are later dropped / withdrawn or not.

I wonder how members on this forum perceive this case?

 

[gourmand]

the story described in this thread seems relevant: https://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/threads/inadmissible.622434/

I wonder in such a case, let's name my acquaintance K for convenience's sake: will it trigger an alert in the system if K happens to cross the border, such as when K shows up at the Canadian border, the CBSA will address the discrepancy on their file: that they have claimed to have no criminal charge or conviction, but in fact the criminal charges are shown on their file. But then, will K's PR be revoked? Will he receive a procedural fairness letter? If they revoke K's PR and consider K to be inadmissible for 5 years due to misrepresentation, can K still remain in Canada with their previous work permit (which I believe is supposed to be invalidated once the PR was initially granted, though in this case might be later revoked)?

 

[Taran D]

the story described in this thread seems relevant: https://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/threads/inadmissible.622434/

I wonder in such a case, let's name my acquaintance K for convenience's sake: will it trigger an alert in the system if K happens to cross the border, such as when K shows up at the Canadian border, the CBSA will address the discrepancy on their file: that they have claimed to have no criminal charge or conviction, but in fact the criminal charges are shown on their file. But then, will K's PR be revoked? Will he receive a procedural fairness letter? If they revoke K's PR and consider K to be inadmissible for 5 years due to misrepresentation, can K still remain in Canada with their previous work permit (which I believe is supposed to be invalidated once the PR was initially granted, though in this case might be later revoked)?

Thats news but what I had heard and read is once you get away from this, in the citizenship process everything is closely investigated again. Moeover IRCC says that they had the right to revoke PR anytime. I had just read in this forum yesterday somewhere that CoPR was cancelled and the person was told that the docs were looked upon again and will be contacted if something else is needed.

 

[moscatojuices]

How did you know this person? This is a very serious charge. What exactly did they do?

From the details of your post, being charged and being convicted are two different things and it becomes a bit murky when it happens within Canada and at the stage where the basically received CoPR. Being charged is not yet a crime. Being convicted is.

Thankfully there are checks and balances in the system. If you're a permanent resident and the system - in this case - missed that your acquittance has a serious criminal charge against them, then this will most definitely compound their pain if and when convicted.

You see, you can lose permanent resident status if you are convicted of serious criminality. Read: https://ccrweb.ca/en/permanent-residents-and-criminal-inadmissibility.

"What is “serious criminality”?
A person is inadmissible on grounds of serious criminality if one of the following applies:

1. The person is convicted in Canada of a crime with a possible sentence of 10 or more years imprisonment (no matter what sentence the person actually received). Examples of such crimes: Assault with a weapon/causing bodily harm, Trafficking in cocaine, heroin; Sexual assault; Uttering a forged document/credit card offences; Break and enter; Fraud/theft over $5,000.
2. The person is convicted in Canada of a crime and sentenced to more than 6 months in prison (including any credit granted for pre-sentence custody).
3. The person is convicted of, or has committed a crime, outside Canada with a possible sentence of 10 or more years imprisonment, if it had been committed in Canada (see a) above).

Note: Permanent residents can also lose their status on other grounds, including various security grounds, organized criminality, international crimes or misrepresentation."

In this case, if you're acquittance is convicted of any of the above, law enforcement will know and immediately upon serving their jail sentence, they will immediately be transferred into an immigration holding cell and issued a deportation order (with the PR obviously being cancelled).

You also say that from memory, PR applicants are required to proactively update the IRCC of whether there is any material change to their personal status. I believe you are right, and being convicted of a crime would most definitely be something the IRCC and Minister of Public Safety need to know before an applicant is given their CoPR or at any stage of the application process.

In this case, your acquittance will more than likely be punished with a double-whammy of 1) serious crime, and 2) fraud/inadmissibility by misrepresentation (I suspect as you said, IRCC will send a procedural fairness letter once they know). Even if they are cleared of 1, you can bet the full force of the law will pursue this person for not declaring being charged with crime while their application was being processed.

Your acquittance looks like they are going to have a very, very miserable start to their life in Canada. I'm glad I'm not him/her!

 

[CANADA-1]

Hello,

I have recently learned about a curious case of an acquaintance. This person has applied for PR in summer 2021 through one of the skilled workers programme.

Then, in January 2022, they have been charged with two counts of assault (CCC section 226 b). The case received the first hearing in March.

At the same time, the PR processing was ongoing. They got official AoR in March, and then medical and/or biometric request in May. And, got the PR confirmation, then eCOPR, in June. And quite efficiently, the PR card also arrived in July.

However, the very peculiar thing is: they have never reported the criminal charges to the IRCC. I am not sure how the final step of PR process was executed now these days during and post-COVID. But to validate the CoPR or to confirm the PR status I believe an applicant should answer a set of questions concerning if there is any change(s) regarding their status, such as marital status, newborn child etc. Among these questions, whether or not they have been charged/convicted of any crime or offence in any country is an obvious, straightforward one. I remember I had to choose "no" and write my initials next to this question on my CoPR back on that day of my landing (before COVID).

I believe they have intentionally hidden this information from the IRCC. But would the IRCC discover it? In fact I was bewildered by the fact that the IRCC was not alerted of this discrepancy when they finalized this applicant's file. What I believe has always been that if one has outstanding charges, the PR application should be put on hold until the criminal case has reached a decision. And I believe that if this matters as a misrepresentation, the applicant should likely face the consequence (such as be given a procedural fairness letter to explain what they did not report it, and then maybe have their PR status revoked etc), no matter whether those charges that they failed to disclose to the IRCC are later dropped / withdrawn or not.

I wonder how members on this forum perceive this case?

pray he not convicted after that stay in Canada long time if file citizenship application then file Criminal Record Suspension. This includes fees to courts, police, Pardon Applications of Canada, fingerprinting and the government of Canada's filing fee which is currently $657.77. i think after that lawyer can handle but this is not simple this cost time and money.

 

[moscatojuices]

pray he not convicted after that stay in Canada long time if file citizenship application then file Criminal Record Suspension. This includes fees to courts, police, Pardon Applications of Canada, fingerprinting and the government of Canada's filing fee which is currently $657.77. i think after that lawyer can handle but this is not simple this cost time and money.

Why on earth would you "pray he not convicted"? He's been charged with a serious crime.... the police don't just charge with you with a serious crime as a joke or for fun.

If he did commit the crime, he should not stay in Canada. He also did not declare this before his PR application was processed, when he had the opportunity to declare it.

Please don't pray for people who do bad things - pray that justice takes its course fairly. Nobody wants criminal immigrants in Canada (I know I don't).

Even if he doesn't get convicted, he will more than likely face inadmissibility proceedings from what OP has said.

 

[gourmand]

I know this person because of a common friend. They have some anger-control issue and mental issue related to alcoholism. I myself would want to keep this kind of people at bay and will not befriend them at all.
I don't really care much how the criminal charges turn out. The one who called the police that time that resulted in their criminal charges intended to give them a chance.
What I am curious about is his immigration situation. I actually am quite concerned, from the point of view of a naturalized Canadian citizen who --I mean myself --has been through the similar process of immigration, that someone could abuse the system and failed to disclose such material facts as criminal history to the immigration.
I am actually planning to report them via the border watch toll free line.

 

[moscatojuices]

I know this person because of a common friend. They have some anger-control issue and mental issue related to alcoholism. I myself would want to keep this kind of people at bay and will not befriend them at all.
I don't really care much how the criminal charges turn out. The one who called the police that time that resulted in their criminal charges intended to give them a chance.
What I am curious about is his immigration situation. I actually am quite concerned, from the point of view of a naturalized Canadian citizen who --I mean myself --has been through the similar process of immigration, that someone could abuse the system and failed to disclose such material facts as criminal history to the immigration.
I am actually planning to report them via the border watch toll free line.

It sounds like you're well-aware this person is a potential public safety threat to Canada and I would definitely encourage you to report him. Many people come to Canada for a second chance - a chance to live in a place with low crime, rules-based order, and where people treat each other with dignity, honesty and fairness.

This person lied on his immigration application and sounds like a wife-beater. This reeks of corruption and bad character. We don't want that here.

Thanks for raising it on this forum - the long arm of the law will surely deal with him.

 

[gourmand]

It sounds like you're well-aware this person is a potential public safety threat to Canada and I would definitely encourage you to report him. Many people come to Canada for a second chance - a chance to live in a place with low crime, rules-based order, and where people treat each other with dignity, honesty and fairness.

This person lied on his immigration application and sounds like a wife-beater. This reeks of corruption and bad character. We don't want that here.

Thanks for raising it on this forum - the long arm of the law will surely deal with him.

Thank you for your encouragement! I will report them as soon as Monday morning!